The Abundance of Katherines by John Green

[db3hr]

Masterpieces, you write? That's not a word you read every day about just any book... Okay, maybe it is, but it never fails to tempt me. I'll look into this John Green.

Masterpiece is definitely not the right word for this book. John Green is worth reading mostly because of how topical he is. He definitely knows how to write YA that sells well, but selling well does not necessarily mean it's good. It's upsetting to me that this is the caliber of books that so many teenagers (especially girls) are exposed to today. If anything, Green is the master of writing manic pixie dream girl characters, but, personally, I wouldn't exactly say that's a good thing. Looking for Alaska is probably his best but before reading anything you should search YouTube for "The Fault in Our Stars metaphor clip". Lots of fans are fawning over how beautiful and poetic it is. If you disagree with that, you might not exactly consider these books "masterpieces". Again, worth reading just to be aware of because of how big a deal he is these days, but perhaps not exactly deserving of all the hype.

[Nathrad Sheare]

Thank you for that, db3hr. I've been a lover of the classics for years, so it's already difficult for any modern book to make my list. You have a helpful voice... Are you considering doing reviews here? I enjoy writing them for the club, myself. I'll look up that clip and see if I want to look any further. You're right when you write that "A million copies sold!" doesn't make a book any good. I've read several bestsellers I didn't think were written well at all... Sometimes there are decent stories in them, but when a decent story is so ill represented by their words, what's the point of having them on a shelf? I hope that doesn't sound too harsh. I always try to remember that whatever I think about a published author's work really doesn't matter in the end anyway, because he or she is making a lot of money and I'm not.

[SNS Hussain]

John Green books usually confuse me. Not because I don't understand them, but because I can't tell if I love the book or am passive about it. For example, the romance in 'The Fault In Our Stars' was reminiscent of the cancer patient romances written by teenage girls on Wattpad. It felt kind of clichéd, but then there are the quotes. Ah, the quotes. They are so quotable and 'different'. He says things you've never heard said before, he says things that are just so true. And then you realise that he takes either facts or anything that sounds remotely philosophical and says it by stringing beautiful words into a sentence in a beautiful way, and that is, in itself a talent. So to me, John Green is talented but it feels like he tries too hard to make his romance stories different and tries too hard to make his characters do something new, or outlandish and that slightly backfires. Having said that An Abundance Of Katherines is possibly my favourite John Green book. Maybe its the fact that it's about a child prodigy that enters teenage just to realise that he's not a child any longer, and hence not a prodigy either. Maybe its the fact that Hassan, his best friend, is hilarious. Maybe its the fact that all the characters are so normal, you can not only imagine them existing, you can relate to them, and you know people like them. Also John Green yet again portrays his tolerance for other religions and his open-minded acceptance of people and their opinions through the character of Hassan. All in all, An Abundance Of Katherines was a light read, a fun read and pretty easy to form an opinion about as far a John Green books go.

[gabbycalametti4]

Definitely not my favorite work by John Green. I didn't find myself wanting more every time I turned the page like his other works. Still recommend it to John Green fans though!

[Ilyvia_Beth]

I really enjoyed this book. I liked reading a happy and lighthearted book for a change. I thought the character development was really good, and I felt like I really knew Collin.

[Carr_olyn]

I totally agree with the post. I love John Green and all of his work, however, it took me two times to try and get through this one. I don't know what it was about the book but it seemed boring and tedious, when his other novels have had my eyes burning from reading so fast!

[jesuisamylea]

For me, after reading The Fault in Our Stars followed by Looking for Alaska, I put Green on a very high pedestal for making me feel a whole range of emotions during a book. An Abundance of Katherines however disappointed me slightly, this may have been down to my own expectations of the book though. It was an interesting read, don't get me wrong! Green offers different kinds of characters and personalities across his books which allow a reader to put themselves in other's shoes. This I find extremely interesting.
It was a slow read, but all in all a good premise, besides the high expectations I had.

[Fliael]

I wouldn't call his books literary masterpieces, but Green is excellent at pulling on the heartstrings you didn't know you had.

[arbartlett]

I enjoyed this book, but it has a couple of major flaws.
First flaw: the middle of the book is a bit boring! As soon as John Green had the ball rolling, it seemed as if he decided to pause it in motion, and set the ball free at the end of the book (the beginning and ending were definitely the best parts).
Second flaw: Colin, the main character, irritated me to almost no end. It took him nearly the entire book to get over himself and his ex girlfriend(s). He has such a low self esteem, and at a few times in the book his self pity reaches such a peak that I had to put the book down to collect myself and make it through that pitiful part of the book.

I'm not going to spend this entire review describing the boring section, or describe how pitiful Colin is throughout nearly the entirety of the book, so I present the up sides of the book.
Up side #1: it is very well written. I wish the story line matched the writing.
Up side #2: this book has quite a bit of humor in it. There were more than a few times when I laughed pretty hard while reading.
There are quite a bit more, but I find these the major up sides.

I give An Abundance of Katherines by John Green a 3 and a 1/2 out of five stars, and recommend this book to anyone who can push through a load of Colin's self pity and the boring middle of the book.

[justN]

I love John Green sooo much! Although this one was a bit disappointing for me... My least favorite John Green book so far.

[Kuzpie]

I didn't enjoy this book either! I think it was all the math that threw me off. It was an interesting idea to put the formulas into the plot line but all the equations just went over my head. I also found the footnote format to be distracting. I see that it wasn't just me who found the main character unlikeable. I know that it's not necessary for the protagonist to be likeable but it made it harder for me to connect to their emotions and story.

[ghostpixie]

Ugh... I love John Green's books, for the most part. I'm such a cliche, I know. But I never even bothered finishing An Abundance of Katherines. It was just so dry, in my opinion. Maybe I should give it a second chance, but who knows.

[cduggins17]

I liked An Abundance of Katherines, but I gave to agreed I dint think it's his best book. It slowed down a lot in the middle so much so that I put it down and read several other books before picking it up again.

I actually was the same way with Looking for Alaska by John Green. The book is split up into two sections, and about ten pages into the second section I put the book down for about two weeks. I was disappointed because I loved The Fault in Our Stars so much. I thought maybe An Abundance of Katherines might be better, but it seems its about the same.

[Heaven Leigh Casteel]

Wow, I just read this and I absolutely loved it ! Everyone is saying it's not his best but I read it in about 2 days. I couldn't put it down. It was a very interesting topic. I thought the footnotes were a cute idea and I honestly think it was more fun to read than the fault in our stars. I mean I don't know if I liked it better, with the fault in our stars I got extremely emotionally involved in but with this one not so much. I'm just about to start looking for Alaska and since an abundance of Katherines is supposedly his least popular novel and I loved it I'm really excited to start!

[ryoku]

This book is a super funny, intelligent, and witty read. Colin is a whiny self centered super smart guy and he knows it. In fact he owns up to it. He will get on your nerves a bit but the other characters make up for it. It's not my favorite John Green book but it is still a really good read.